


keep and care for him (and teach him at my knee)

by qvasimodos



Category: Notre-Dame de Paris | The Hunchback of Notre-Dame - All Media Types, The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Menken/Schwartz/Parnell
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 10:23:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19271317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qvasimodos/pseuds/qvasimodos
Summary: Dom Claude Frollo sat in the belltower of Notre Dame, working on sermons for midnight and midday mass. At his feet sat a young child, about four, begging for his attention.This was Quasimodo, Frollo's own hunchbacked, bandy-legged, nearly mute nephew, whom he'd taken in as his own child "out of the kindness of his heart."





	keep and care for him (and teach him at my knee)

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I wrote ages ago (around 2016-17 I believe) when I was Knee Deep™️ in Hunchback obsession. I'd like to think that this is not my best work and that I've improved since then, but who knows truly?
> 
> visit me [@qvasimodos](http://qvasimdos.tumblr.com) on tungle !

Dom Claude Frollo sat in the belltower of Notre Dame, working on sermons for midnight and midday mass. At his feet sat a young child, about four, begging for his attention.

This was Quasimodo, Frollo's own hunchbacked, bandy-legged, nearly mute nephew, whom he'd taken in as his own child "out of the kindness of his heart." 

When Frollo had taken him, he was too young to speak. As he grew older, he wouldn't speak at all. He would merely sit there, staring Frollo in the eye with a confused look and only grunting or moaning when he wanted attention. Frollo deemed this unacceptable, and took great pains to loosen the tongue of this child he'd named an "almost."

Now, at nearly four, Quasimodo had learned almost three words: one, the first two syllables of his name (minus the "q" sound); two, a garbled, lispy version of "master;" and three, his favorite, "up."

"Up" meant several things to Quasimodo. Up is where God lives, Frollo would tell him, and to which he'd respond with only an awestruck nod. Up was where the saints and monsters made of stained glass and stone sat and looked after him. Up was where large Marie and her sisters (the bells) lived, and who Quasimodo would excitedly point out to Frollo anytime he entered the room. And up meant, as any child wants of their parent, that he wanted to be held by Frollo.

This was why he was sitting at Frollo's feet, not-so-gently tugging at the end of his robes, and shrieking, "up, up!" Frollo shook his head, saying, "not now, Quasimodo," but the child persisted.

Eventually catching on that Frollo wasn't going to pick him up anytime soon, Quasimodo grabbed two large handfuls of his master's robes and tried to pull himself onto his lap. He got halfway up before falling off Frollo's lap and hitting his head on the marble floor. As unfazed as a four year old could be, Quasimodo picked himself up to try again, but Frollo had had enough.

He had been patient for several hours of Quasimodo pulling himself onto his lap and falling right back off, but he couldn't deal with it anymore. As the boy grabbed his robes to try again, Frollo grimaced in anger and raised a hand to hit the boy. Quasimodo's reaction was instant.

He let go of Frollo's robes and fell back to the ground, staring at it as he tried to avoid crying. As Quasimodo quietly wheezed through his lispy version of "master," Frollo realised he had made a mistake.

Frollo pulled Quasimodo up by his arms and sat him against his chest, where he was almost immediately at ease. Quasimodo began to suck his thumb, and Frollo pressed a gentle kiss to his deformed brow. (As terrified as Quasimodo was of Frollo, he had no other person to seek affection from).

He was not perfect. He could not take care of Quasimodo every day. But he could teach him, raise him as well as he could, give him the affection he knew that the world would deny him.

Quasimodo was an "almost," but he was Frollo's almost. He would raise him as he saw fit, not to cling to him all the time, to understand his place, and respect those who were obviously greater than him. Frollo would raise Quasimodo to think like him.

Several years later, Quasimodo could speak more than the garbled syllables he'd learned at four, but "up" was still his favorite word. Up was where the Holy Father lived, where his beautiful bells rung out each morning, where his friends made of stone could watch over him. But most importantly, "up" was where freedom was.


End file.
